A Corentyne man was on Friday sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing his stepfather during a row over music at Bloomfield, Berbice, five years ago.
Bisram Ramsamug, who was indicted for murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter at the High Court in Berbice, inflicted a single chop to the head of the now deceased Narine Sewnauth, known as ‘Naipaul’, 44, a painter, of Lot 308 Bloomfield, Corentyne in May, 2016,.
Ahead of Ramsamug’s sentencing, State Attorney Abigail Gibbs pointed out that the deceased and accused were no stranger to each other and she noted that moments before the killing, the two men were even having a merry time. She stressed that Ramsamug used excessive force and noted that while only one chop wound was inflicted on the deceased, it was enough to cause a fatal result.
She also asked that consideration be given to the fact that a life has been lost and that the message has to be sent to society at large that violence is never the way.
Justice Brassington Reynolds, who handed down the sentence, said he considered Ramsamug’s age, the fact that at the time when he committed the offence he had no previous brushes with the law, and that he did not waste the court’s time.
Further, the judge said he recognised that the accused had a challenging childhood, although he added that such is the reality of most Guyanese “and so you get no credit for that.”
Justice Reynolds told the accused that his stepfather turned out to be the jail bait and that he got hooked. However, he said, that several lessons should come out from the experience for Ramsamug.
In determining the sentence, the judge noted that the facts as accepted by Ramsamug warranted a sentence of between 20 and 25 years. However, after consideration of several factors, including Ramsamug’s demonstration of remorse, his time on remand, his early guilty plea and good behaviour in prison, he sentenced him to 10 years.
In 2016, Ramsamug’s wife, Fareena Bacchus, told Stabroek News that the men were having a drink while celebrating Mother’s Day. She said she sleeping and awakened to raised voices as they were arguing over music. The heated argument became physical and the two had a scuffle and dealt each other blows about the body. Ramsamug then reportedly ran into the kitchen, collected his cutlass and chopped Sewnauth to the head.
Around this point, Bacchus had decided to get up and go downstairs, but when she got there she saw Sewnauth bleeding from his head. Her husband, Ramsamug, who was standing over Sewnauth’s body, told her to call for help.
